DIXON — Sophie Brunner scored 26 points in the second half to lead defending Class 1A state champ Freeport Aquin to a 75-70 victory Friday over Class 3A Lutheran in the Dixon Holiday Tournament quarterfinals.

“She’s not a 1A player,” Lutheran coach Joni Carlson said. “I don’t know who stops her in 1A. When she wants to, she can score on every possession.”

She didn’t have to Friday. Brunner had more assists (four) than points (three) in the first half, yet Aquin led 37-30. Five Bulldogs scored in the last two minutes of the half as Aquin outscored Lutheran 9-8 to keep its lead — even with Brunner on the bench with two fouls.

“That’s what I’ve been looking for,” coach Jeff Curry said.

The day before, Brunner shot 7-for-10 in the first half and the rest of the Bulldogs were 0-for-9.

“Everybody is growing slowly as a team, gradually coming out of it, making big shots at big times and getting ready for the state tournament,” Brunner said.

“We realize if we don’t shoot, it’s going to end up like Thursday’s game, slow and sluggish,” said guard Haley Chang (10 points).

Aquin (12-3) led by as many as 14 points before Samantha Rundblade scored 15 points in five minutes to pull Lutheran (10-3) to within one.

“That felt bad,” Aquin guard Hailey Truman said. “We worked so hard to do that, and then it all just went away. We had to start from scratch.”

Rundblade scored the last five of those points after freshman center Abby Woolacott left with a sprained knee. Lutheran, which never led, also got to within one with four minutes left, 61-60, on a basket by Bailey Peck (10 points). But Rundblade (28), Rachel Konieczki (19), Peck and Company could never quite catch Aquin, and an 8-0 run with points by Brunner, Chang and Katie Stykel put the Bulldogs safely ahead 69-60.

“It was a lot of fun for everyone to contribute,” Chang said. “It’s good to prove to everyone else it’s not just Sophie on our team. She’s a huge part, but we need to work on our outside shooters. Tonight really opened everyone’s eyes.”

Rochelle 51, Sterling 46: Michelle Dobbs had 17 points and Abby Gould 11 points and seven rebounds to lead the Hubs in their redemption tournament.

“We wanted to do the opposite of what we did last year, when we lost every game here,” Dobbs said. “We wanted to come here this year and show everyone what we can do as a team. This is the best basketball we’ve been playing all year.”

Kiarra Harris scored 15 points for Sterling (7-9).

Rochelle outrebounded Sterling 35-23, including 20 offensive rebounds. The Hubs haven’t won a regional in 24 years but are now 11-1 in coach Kay Dobbs’ final season.

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“It was a bad time here last year,” Michelle Dobbs said. “We lost our center after that. She left our team. Now, no matter what happens the second half of the season, if we can play this hard, it’s going to be. It’s really exciting. This is our coach’s last year, and we really want to get that regional championship off the board.”

Oregon 52, East Moline United 47: Emylyn Wright scored 17 points, Sam Lambrigtsen 12 and Bree Tourtillott 10. The Hawks took the lead for good against the defending champs with a 9-0 run that ended early in the fourth quarter. “We knew they were getting tired, so we had to push the ball,” Tourtillott said.

Oregon (13-3) closed it out with three steals in the last 90 seconds. “Steals are a big part of our game,” Tourtillott said. “We work on anticipating every day in practice so we can get big steals.”

Boylan 45, Dunlap 41: Casey Pettit and Jensen Blassage (15 points) scored on back-to-back breakaway layups to break a 39 tie in the last two minutes. “Me and Jensen work well as a team,” said Pettit, who scored all nine of her points in the second half. “If we see an opening, we take it. We needed to go on a run to break away.”

Hallie Stull rebounded a missed free throw with 20 seconds left to clinch the win for Boylan (6-7). “That was giant. She’s a great rebounder,” Pettit said.

In consolation games:

Eastland 61, Stillman Valley 58: Hannah Hake scored all 10 of her points in the second quarter to help Eastland to a commanding 46-31 halftime lead. Lexis Macomber led the Cougars with 16 points. Sydney Shelbourne scored 21 and Abby Timm 10 to lead a Stillman comeback that fell just short.

Rockford Christian 44, Kenwood 27: Sierra Riley scored 15 points and Lexi Lanquist 11 to lead the Royal Lions. Riley made three 3-pointers, giving her eight in two games.

Forreston 51, Pekin 47: Maggie Curry scored 18 points and Anna Drake 15 to lead Forreston. The Cardinals made five 3-pointers in the third quarter, three of them by Drake, to open a 40-31 lead.